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Lockheed Martin (LMT) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Lockheed Martin (LMT - Free Report) closed at $449.66, marking a -0.77% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.04%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.22%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 2.93%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the aerospace and defense company had gained 1.16% over the past month. This has lagged the Aerospace sector's gain of 4.47% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.22% in that time.

Lockheed Martin will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, Lockheed Martin is projected to report earnings of $6.41 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 222.11%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $15.78 billion, up 2.15% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $27.09 per share and revenue of $65.76 billion, which would represent changes of -0.51% and -0.34%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Lockheed Martin. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. Lockheed Martin is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking at its valuation, Lockheed Martin is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 16.73. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 16.25, so we one might conclude that Lockheed Martin is trading at a premium comparatively.

Also, we should mention that LMT has a PEG ratio of 2.72. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Aerospace - Defense industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.82 as of yesterday's close.

The Aerospace - Defense industry is part of the Aerospace sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 163, which puts it in the bottom 36% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

To follow LMT in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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